The West Antarctic Rift System is a series of rift valleys between East and West Antarctica.[1] It encompasses the Ross Embayment, the Ross Sea, the area under the Ross Ice Shelf and a part of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica,[2] reaching to the base of the Antarctic Peninsula.[1] It has an estimated length of 3,000 km (1,900 mi) and a width of approximately 700 km (430 mi).[1] Its evolution is due to lithospheric thinning of an area of Antarctica that resulted in the demarcation of East and West Antarctica. The scale and evolution of the rift system has been compared to that of the Basin and Range Province of the Western United States.[1][3]
- ^ a b c d Behrendt, J.C.; LeMasurier, W.E.; Cooper, A.K.; Tessensohn, F.; Tréhu, A.; Damaske, D. (1991). "Geophysical studies of the West Antarctic Rift System". Tectonics. 10 (6): 1257–1273. Bibcode:1991Tecto..10.1257B. doi:10.1029/91TC00868.
- ^ Luyendyk, Bruce P.; Wilson, Douglas S.; Siddoway, Christine S. (1 October 2003). "Eastern margin of the Ross Sea Rift in western Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica: Crustal structure and tectonic development". Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 4 (10): 1090. Bibcode:2003GGG.....4.1090L. doi:10.1029/2002GC000462. ISSN 1525-2027.
- ^ Tessensohn, F., and G. Wörner. 1991. "The Ross Sea rift system, Antarctica: structure, evolution and analogues." In Geological Evolution of Antarctica, edited by M.R.A. Thomson, J.A. Crame and J.W. Thomson, 273–277. Cambridge University Press.